Zweli Mkhize. Image: GCIS

South Africa now has 116 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. “This means that there has been an increase of 31 new cases from yesterday’s announcement,” said the health department on Wednesday morning.

Among the new cases are two males, one from Gauteng with no international travel history, and one from the Western Cape, who had travelled to New Zealand.

On Tuesday, cases stood at 85 in the country, with eight local transmissions confirmed. As of Wednesday, the department confirmed an additional six local transmission cases from the newly announced cases.

As part of its tracking and tracing, the department of health said it has collated background information on how these patients were infected. “We will provide information to the public, so as to give a sense of how these local transmissions occur.

“We will, however, not disclose full details as this information is subject to patient confidentiality, which we are bound by,” said the health department. – SANews